During 2013 in Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s centre-right government continued to implement a moderate austerity program, reducing welfare spending and introducing a new set of crisis taxes on banking and selected industries. Several macroeconomic indicators improved during the year: the country’s exports picked up; inflation dropped from 4% to under 2%; and the budget deficit was reduced to below 3%. However, unemployment stayed above 10%; the economy remained weak; and the belt-tightening led to an increase in poverty rates and a further widening of social divisions.

The political opposition claimed that the Fidesz–Hungarian Civic Alliance-led government was focusing on “quick wins” and had failed to address some fundamental problems affecting the country, including structural causes of unemployment, grave challenges within the health and education sectors, and fleeing foreign direct investment. The opposition was unable to challenge Fidesz on most of its policies, however, because the party had gained a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly in 2010 with its coalition partner, the Christian Democratic People’s Party.

Orban’s government used its supermajority to intervene in the energy market by ordering utility companies to significantly reduce charges for all households. It also called on banks to retroactively modify all existing foreign-currency loans and mortgages in favour of clients and to absorb the majority of exchange-rate losses of recent years. This plan was welcomed by hundreds of thousands of families who had been struggling to repay loans—valued at an estimated $8 billion—but was greeted with alarm by the banking sector and financial analysts, who feared that this could trigger a financial meltdown in the country. In December, however, the Supreme Court ruled that the loans were legal and that the borrowers remained responsible for them.

Fidesz also sought to strengthen its position vis-à-vis the country’s Constitutional Court. After the court had blocked a proposal to change voter-registration rules, in March the government passed amendments to the constitution to weaken the independence of the court. The constitutional amendments prompted the opposition and the EU to accuse Fidesz of seriously undermining the rule of law and democracy. Following an international outcry over the issue—and a threat by the EU to take legal action—the government withdrew most changes during the fall.

Whereas many in the EU viewed Orban as an autocrat, supporters at home considered him to be a defender of national sovereignty. Among other accomplishments, he received praise for his decision to repay the remainder of a 2008 IMF loan ahead of schedule and to close the IMF’s office in the capital. While this was a symbolic move to assert the country’s independence, it was possible only after heavy borrowing on international financial markets. As a result, the country’s external debt remained at about 80% of GDP.

Even though the majority of Hungarians were disillusioned with Fidesz’s policies and governing style, about half of all eligible voters remained undecided about their party preference, and Orban’s party continued to lead among decided voters. Fidesz also remained popular in neighbouring countries, as a change in citizenship rules—pushed through by Fidesz—granted millions of ethnic Hungarians living outside the country the right to participate in Hungarian elections. In 2013 nearly half a million ethnic Hungarians had obtained Hungarian citizenship and had become eligible to vote.

In September the opposition Hungarian Socialist Party (MSzP) formed an electoral alliance with former prime minister Gordon Bajnai’s new political party, Together 2014, in preparation for the spring 2014 national elections. Following months of negotiations, the two parties agreed to a common election program but failed to reach consensus on a joint nomination for the position of prime minister. Several smaller political parties were also formed, all seeking to join a broad opposition coalition to defeat Fidesz.

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May 31, 1963 Alcsútdoboz, Hungary Hungarian politician who served as prime minister of Hungary (1998–2002; 2010–). He was considered to be the first post- Cold War head of government in eastern and central Europe who had not been a member of a Soviet-era communist regime.

centre-right Hungarian political party. Fidesz (the Federation of Young Democrats) was founded in 1988 as an anticommunist party that promoted the development of a market economy and European integration. Initially, membership was restricted to those age 35 or younger, though this restriction was...